Plymouth Gin
Formed: | 1793 |
Black Friars Distillery 60 Southside Street The Barbican Plymouth PL1 2LQ United Kingdom | |
+44 (0)1752 665 292 | |
https://www.plymouthgin.com | |
info@plymouthdistillery.com |
Soon after Coates & Co began in 1793, Plymouth Gin became a firm favourite in the numerous countries it was shipped to.
The gin drinking of the Royal Navy considerably enhanced gin’s prestige as it climbed the ladder of respectability in Victorian times.
By 1850 Coates & Co were supplying over 1000 barrels of ‘navy strength’ 57% abv gin a year to the Royal Navy.
They were fond of mixing it with Angostura bitters or lime for ‘medicinal’ purposes.
Thanks to the British Royal Navy taking it on ships all over the world, it was to become the world’s largest volume brand of gin with 1,000 cases a week going to New York alone by the 1900’s.
In 1896 the first ever recipe for a Dry Martini specified Plymouth Gin (in Stuart’s Fancy Drinks and How to Mix Them) and by the 1930’s Plymouth Gin was the star of the cocktail era.
It is the only gin still around today to be named in numerous recipes in the renowned Savoy Cocktail Book – still the bible of mixology.
Plymouth Gin brands
Further information

Plymouth Gin Distillery
The building dates back to the early 1400s, with the most intact part of the distillery, the Refectory Room - a medieval hall with a fine hull-shaped timber roof built in 1431, being one of the oldest buildings in Plymouth. It is thus protected as a national monument and is one of the city's most precious heritages. The Distillery was Read more

Sean Harrison, Plymouth Gin
Reinventing Plymouth gin: how former Naval officer helped steer a new course for historic brand Despite being a gin with a 200-year history, Plymouth Gin had to reinvent itself back in the 1990s to help the spirit out of the doldrums. At the same time, former Royal Navy officer Sean Harrison had to learn how to make the hallowed liquid Read more
News featuring Plymouth Gin
